not so slick, i guess

Question

i thought i will jabber about it once i get it, but think the destiny had something else in mind. i think, being overconfident, or being extra cautious, screwed my day. this is one bad day, i guess. got 690 on my gmat today. i know, its not that bad, but it's not that good either. but before i gulp down the anxiety with my bacardi, i want to tell a little about the test. i think, i did pretty well in the awa writing. anyhow, the final score will tell. guys! the quant was bad! i mean, bad! i finished 1 min before time. the problems were long and intricate, taking long to solve. i am pretty good at quant--got 50 anyhow

--but those problems were really difficult for the given time frame . but, i know where i screwed up; i thought verbal was going good for me, thus i took it a bit cool. huh! i can't forgive that mistake. anyway, i am gonna do a bit of research to see if my profile fits fine with my score. if not, i will up on the verbal forum again, this time to stab the beast in the heart

if you guys have specific questions, pls post, i will try to explain the best way possible. oh! my practice scores: PR - 720+ all PP - 730 and 750 Kap - ranged from 580 to 670 800 score - 680+ all one advice: in case anxiety, generally, takes a toll on you before the test day try this: day before the test, get up at 6 - 6:30 in the morning, follow the regular work schedule, have a heavy lunch, don't take a nap, go back home early (for the ones working), do what you like, but please don't lie down on the bed

i am sure after all this you will get an extra hr sleep, let alone the sleepless night. cheers!! dj

Bhai · Answer

dj

I know you aspire to be in the 7** club and that is fine, I guess. 690 is a score you will not get rejected for. The reason will be something else. You can do an introspection and map the score to your profile. Remember what ETS says your score is 30 points here and there so the school will look at your score in the range of 660-720. So it is slick.

Congrats and write a nice application. Hang around the club to help us :roll:

all.

--Bhai

all. --Bhai

Bhai · Answer

I guess your verbal score must be in the range of 32-36. What is it?

Hjort · Answer

Good job!

Did you get a V34?

Hjort

srijay007 · Answer

DJ .. dear buddy I know how u feel ... I felt the same way when I got the 700! I know u are relieved but not very happy! Congratulations on ur effort. I spent the next two weeks after my GMAT talking to adcom on how important GMAT score is.

Here's my 2 cents on what I perceived of the discussions (I wont repeat what is mentioned in most books like GMAT is not the only criteria etc. etc.):
1. HBS/Kellogg adcom: GMAT is an indicator of whether you can handle the curriculum. However, we believe that GMAT is a short-term indicator of ur abilities ie gmat involves only 3 months of prep. Hence we look very closely at the GPA as well and we believe that GPA is a better long term indicator of your academic potential. Hence, so long as the score lies in the middle 60% - u should not worry much
2. Wharton/Stanford current students: If you are above 700 then gmat will not be the reason for ur app rejection. If you score below 700 then you have to write convincing essays to make up for the lost pts in GMAT. Basically, the whole game is about differentiation ~here's an example: if there are two indian engineers A and B with same profile and A scores 740 and B scores 690 ... A takes a lead in GMAT, but if B's essays are more convincing and appealing, then B will score more than A and get admitted! Hence B succeeds in differentiating himself from A in other areas of the application, hence eclipsing the 50 point difference in GMAT score.

Hence I wud suggest u to focus on ur essays incase u are apping this year. Before planning to retake GMAT again - talk to adcom to clarify any skepticism u have with ur score. Believe me, they are very helpful!

Congratulations again and Best Wishes ....

Srijay

:woohoo

Paul · Answer

Congratulation dj and also great advice from Srijay. It's so good to see all of you scoring so well. I knew you would be one of the high scorers dj :good

. With 50Q I think you could have done better in verbal to get that 700. If ever you decide not to redo again, my best wishes for your application. You've been another invaluable member to this site buddy. :crying

Paul

hardworker_indian · Answer

Buddy, don't worry. From what I hear 690 is a very good score. I have heard of 640s in stanford. If your GPA is okay, you'll fine with good essays.

Afterall, you got a 50 in Quants, high in what matters. Feel proud.

Congrats man!

(Is this your second time or first? I see you have 1700+ posts, so thought you might have given GMAT before.)

boksana · Answer

Congratulations! 690 is good! As Srijay said B-scools don't reject only for such score. Whole package of application is important. So, work on essays.

GoalStanford · Answer

Congratulations.

Srijay explained well but I would advise to retake if you think you can do better in verbal.

Stanford is getting tougher and tougher.You can't just leave it to the hope that your essays are better than others'.I am sure all applicants will try put their best for the essays.GMAT score is in your control.An excellent essay with 730/740 score would make it a cakewalk.

My two cents.

Bhai · Answer

Well Stanford is tougher but it the only school to reject 800. If you have some title like "son of a senator" or "son of Fortune 1 CEO" then may be 600 is OK. Stanfor range is 540-790. So imagine the juice in 540 application. Even with 750 there is no guarentee. This is out of scope discussion on this forum but I would suggest thinking strongly about re-writing it. dj is the right person to decide that.

--Bhai

dj · Answer

you guys never cease to inspire me to work for the good. thanks alot for all your kind responses. i will be taking a couple to days to figure out the next course of action; for sure, i am gonna stick around with the forum. 'gmatclub' has become the food for my soul

however much i thank BB, Preat, it, just, not enough. Special thanks to Paul, stolyar, Stoolfi, srijay, Titleist, Anand, Bhai, kPadma, hardworker, venksune, boksana and all the active members of this forum Guys thanks for your inputs; i will decide and will surely share with you guys about my next action. i know, i can do pretty nice on verbal, but it just didn't work out this time. however, before considering retake, i will look for what 's open for me.

dj · Answer

thanks for the great advise, buddy. yep, I am planning for 2005, but this moment I am not in a position to decide on where to stride...call it the hangover :-D

You have made a great point on when GMAT could be a deciding factor. I firmly believe the same.

vivek_dj · Answer

DJ...congratulations on scoring 690.I certainly think you belong in the 700 club...but that does mean tha not 690 is bad.I suggest that you contemplate about retake for a day and then decide.Your quant is strong and if you think you can gain 2-3 points in verbal by all means give GMAT another shot.One thing I would not suggest is to again study for a month and so and then raise your score by 10-20 points.It would not serve any purpose and its better to use that time to write killer essays.R1 is just getting over and the scamper for R2 would be starting in a few days...decide fast buddy.

Congrats again... and enjoy your bacardi.

-Vivek.

dj · Answer

thanks for the advise, Vivek.
In case I decide to retake it, I will take it on 2/3 of the next month. I do agree with you that there is no point procrastinate at this stage and fade what I have gathered.
And for sure, this time, I won't mess up with the verbal

dj · Answer

for the guys who are on the verge of their GMAT dates:

please study quant seriously; its not coming the way it used to. Don't rely on the skills that you have accumulated after working on OG. Do try a couple of progression problems. Especially, jot down AP formulae. I got 2/3 combination problems; one was a bit tricky, i think, i got that correct. a couple of co-ordinate geometry problems such as point in the quardant etc. 2/3 time-speed problems. Those were easy, but time consuming. Didn't get any of those mixture problems. Did get one VENN diagaram based (easy). 

verbal was easy--it's different that I messed--do try a couple of BF CRs. I got 2. RC - 4. 2 were 35 liners, 1 was 45, and the last one was ~65. 
1-3 SC
4 CR
5-7 RC
8 CR
9-12 RC
i think this may help you doing time-management for first 20 mins.

all the best for the exam. I will try to post some more details regarding the types.

dj

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not so slick, i guess

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